By Maryam Cockar

Unilever PLC (ULVR.LN) on Thursday said a truckers' strike in Brazil hit underlying sales growth in the first half of 2018 and that net profit declined 2.3%.

For the six months ended June 30, the Anglo-Dutch consumer goods company made a profit of 3.04 billion euros ($3.54 billion) compared with EUR3.11 billion a year earlier.

Unilever, whose brands include Hellmann's mayonnaise and Ben & Jerry's ice cream, said revenue fell 5% to EUR26.35 billion from EUR27.73 billion and included an adverse translational currency impact of 8.9%.

Underlying sales growth was 2.5%, a deceleration of compared with 3% growth last year. The company said the extended truckers' strike in Brazil, one of the Unilever's biggest markets, adversely affected underlying sales growth by around 60 basis points.

Underlying sales growth for the second quarter, excluding the spreads and margarine business which the company completed the sale of in July, was 1.9%.

The company declared a quarterly dividend of EUR0.3872 a share.

Chief Executive Paul Polman said the company backs its previous guidance for the full-year and he continues to expect underlying sales growth between 3% to 5% range, an improvement in underlying operating margin and strong cash flow.

Write to Maryam Cockar at maryam.cockar@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 19, 2018 02:43 ET (06:43 GMT)

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